• The Department for Work and Pensions has today published the Health and Disability White Paper, setting out a vision to “help more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work”.
• A new Disability Action Plan will be developed and consulted on in 2023 outlining the practical action to be taken across government to improve disabled people’s lives.
• The White Paper outlines the government’s approach across four chapters:

Chapter 1 – Opening up more work opportunities

To support people to stay and succeed in work, government will:

• • Build on previous work to promote greater recognition of the health benefits of work
  • Work with the occupational health sector and employers to reform the market and improve access to quality Occupational Health services
  • Test a financial incentive and support model to help small and medium-sized businesses and the self-employed overcome barriers to purchasing Occupational Health services. If effective and value for money, this could be expanded nationally in the next spending review period
  • Develop a new advice and information service for employers. This service is now in national live testing
  • Provide mental health support to people in employment through the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service
  • Continue to work with healthcare professionals, including the new expanded group, who can certify and issue fit notes
  • Publish a Major Conditions Strategy developed by DHSC in consultation with NHS England and colleagues across government to set out a shift to integrated, inclusive, whole-person care

To support people to start and succeed in work, government will:

• • Over an initial three-year period, offer more work coach support to people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit (UC) or Employment and Support Allowance
  • Extend the Work and Health Programme to September 2024 to provide targeted employment support for up to an additional two years
  • Work alongside lead authorities as they develop and commission local people and skills support for disabled people funded from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
  • Pilot a new Access to Work enhanced package for disabled people who need more support than the existing scheme can provide
  • Test whether providing support for employers who are willing to shape vacancies to accommodate an employee’s disability can make a difference
  • Continue to use the Health Adjustment Passport nationally
  • Roll out the new In-Work Progression Offer provided by work coaches to help people in work on UC
  • Continue the process of extending the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies services (previously Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) to all NHS Talking Therapies services across England. Full roll-out will be achieved by 1 April 2024

Chapter 2 – Providing the right support

• • Extend the Enhanced Support Service to more areas for testing. If successful and value for money, expand to areas of high demand in 2024
  • Work with partners to improve people’s mobility

Chapter 3 – Improving services

• • Make Employment and Health Discussions more people-focused by honing in on health, personal, occupational and societal factors affecting the person
  • Test sharing health assessment reports with people making the claim before a decision is made
  • Continue to invest in developing the skills of assessors
  • Begin testing matching a person’s primary health condition to a specialist assessor
  • Transform the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) service to deliver a more user-friendly service, including simplifying data collection and gathering data electronically where possible
  • Continue testing the introduction of a Severe Disability Group for those with the most severe health conditions
  • Explore ways to simplify the full claim process through the Health Transformation Area (HTA) and evaluate how well video and telephone assessments work

Chapter 4 – Transforming the system for the future

• • Focus on what people can do rather than on the limitations of a disability or health condition
  • Remove barriers in the design of the benefits system that can prevent people entering and remaining in employment
  • Legislate to remove the existing Work Capability Assessment
  • Remove the existing Universal Credit limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element and replace it with a new Universal Credit health element
  • Introduce more personalised levels of conditionality and employment support